The Nightmare
by Hawk2
Summary: Buffy is having nightmares, but is it supernatural in origin? R&R, please


She was being chased  
  
By what she didn't know, but she knew something was after her. She didn't dare look back, just hearing its destruction was enough. No matter how fast she ran, though, she could hear it, feel it, catching up to her.  
  
Why don't I fight it? I'm the Slayer; I can take any demon wannabe on! She thought excitedly. No answer came to mind, though, as she focused all her energy on gaining some ground between her and whatever it was.  
  
Then she felt a hand brush her hair, then grab it. All her momentum was forced back into that one hard tug. It felt as if it pulled her golden blonde hair out by the roots. At the very least put a crown of needles on her head. She landed on her back. Hard. All the air in her lungs came out in one big Whoosh.  
  
All she could see of her assailant were two red eyes. They looked pure evil with no sign of humanity in them whatsoever. Then it brought it's clawed hand down on her face.  
  
Darkness engulfed her.  
  
  
  
Light engulfed her.  
  
Buffy Summers awoke with a start and instinctively glanced at her alarm clock. 8:44. Great, she thought, slept through the alarm again.  
  
That was the third nightmare this week, and she was starting to feel it. The lack of sleep was starting to make her tired. Every joint in her body screamed for mercy, and she was dimly aware of her heavy eyelids. Any normal person would probably be to fatigued to even get up, but Buffy Summers was no normal person. She was the slayer. One in a long family tree. Once she died (hopefully not too soon, but slayers have lower-than-normal expiration dates), another would be called upon to fight the forces of evil.   
  
Buffy leaped out of bed and quickly threw on a shirt and a pair of pants. Her mom probably already left for the gallery, so she wouldn't need an excuse for walking out the door later than usual.  
  
  
  
The walk to school was uneventful. The things that go bump only come out at night, after all. She got to school during 3rd period, so she went to her Watcher, Rupert Giles, in the school library.  
  
"Hey, Giles! What's up?" she exclaimed upon entering.  
  
"Oh, hey Buffy. Nothing much. Just putting the returned books back. Do you know how few students actually use this library?" he said in that British accent that Buffy occasionally taunted him for.  
  
"Books. The lost voice of our generation" she said with a half smile on her face.  
  
"Uh, yeah. How did patrol go last night?"  
  
"Same as every other night, vampire shows up, I stake, we both go home happy." Buffy had to go patrolling for vampires every night in order to keep Sunnydale's high population of vampires in check.  
  
"I only ask because you do look a little pale, and tired. Is anything the matter?"  
  
Buffy sat down in the nearest chair. "Yes, actually," she said in a somber tone. "I've had another nightmare,"  
  
"Another? How many have you had this month?"  
  
"I don't know, but I've three this week, so far. I don't know what to make of them, and I always feel tired and exhausted after each one, like it was really happening."  
  
"Maybe it's a sign? Or a demon, I think there are several demons that feed off of nightmares, or cause them for that matter. Do you have any idea what it looked like?"  
  
"No. All I can see of it are two red eyes. And I think it may have claws, that's what it killed me with last night."  
  
"That might narrow it down a bit," The bell rang just then, interrupting Giles. The sound of students flooding into the hall soon followed. "But until then, please get to class, and maybe some sleep, since you do look terrible." Giles concluded.  
  
"Agreed." Buffy said cheerfully as she picked herself out of the chair and joined the river of students in the hall.  
  
  
  
"Buffy! What's wrong? You look terrible!" Willow's voice cut through all the other background voices. Willow was Buffy's best friends, and probably the smartest person she ever knew next to Giles. It was lunch and Buffy was sitting alone at a small table near the back of the cafeteria. She was trying to get some sleep.  
  
"Oh, hey Will. I'm just tired, bad night last night. I had another nightmare." Buffy said in one of the biggest yawns Willow had ever seen.   
  
"Are you sure they're not some Slayer-sign or something? I mean, you can tell the difference, right?"  
  
"Yeah, I can tell the difference, and no, I don't think they're visions, Will. They just don't feel right"  
  
"There you guys are!" A familiar voice exclaimed from behind the two girls. It was Xander, Buffy and Willow's best (guy) friend. "I've been looking all over for the two of you! Whoa, Buffy, what's wrong, did you loose a fight to the insomniac demon?"  
  
"No, Xander," Buffy said with a chuckle. She always loved his spur-of-the-moment humor. "It's nothing, rea..."  
  
But she was interrupted mid-sentence by Willow. "She's having nightmares."  
  
"Whoa, really? They must really be disturbing to make you look like that! You look like death run over twice, then reheated!"  
  
"It's ok, really. I'm just not getting enough sleep, what with patrolling and these new nightmares." Buffy replied.  
  
"You want me to patrol for you? I may not have special Slayer abilities, but I know when to run." Xander said  
  
Buffy chuckled at Xander's remark, yet again. "No, Xand, it's all right. I can deal."  
  
"Are you sure, me and Xander can both do this" Willow asked with a bright look in her eyes.  
  
"It's alright, I promise." The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch, and the return to class. The students filed out, and Buffy, Willow, and Xander joined them.  
  
  
  
The vampire just wouldn't die. Buffy had been beating his undead hide for the past ten or so minutes, and she knew it had to be in as much pain as she was. Her muscles screamed and ached because of the sudden usage but no sleep to go along with them. Her reactions were slow, and this newborn actually managed to get in some good hits.   
  
Finally, after another 2 or so minutes of trading blows, Buffy decided it was too much and withdrew her stake. With almost no effort, she dusted the vampire. She then proceeded home. Sleep was all she could think off.  
  
Like her walk to school, her walk home was uneventful. She was a little more cautious, seeing as how it was night and all, but she didn't really have to worry about anything. The things that go bump in the night are usually afraid of the Slayer, and thus would like to live a lot longer by avoiding her.  
  
When she finally got into her room (climbing through the window is a lot harder when you're completely exhausted, she was gonna have to tell her mom about her extra curricular activities sometime), she put her remaining stakes in her closet and laid down in her bed. She asleep almost immediately.   
  
  
  
The beast chased her again. She ran, like every other time. But she soon came to a wall, an incredibly high wall. She was stuck, and the nightmare demon was coming. She could see its red eyes gazing at her, could hear it's gravely voice growl with satisfaction. It had finally caught the Slayer, and she was helpless. Just like every other time.  
  
Before she realized what she was doing, she jumped into the air, over her unseen assailant, and rolled when she hit the ground. She turned around halfway through the roll and stood up to face the beast. Before it had realized what had happened, it was already under a barrage of hits and kicks from the Slayer.  
  
Buffy fought with all her strength. She knew what this thing was capable of, and she didn't want to experience it again. After endless hits, the beast finally got its bearings together and tried to fight back. Its swings were actually fast for its size, but Buffy dodged them with some effort. She started to look around for a weapon to use while at the same time dodging her attacker's blows.   
  
Then she felt a sudden burst of pain in her face, and then felt her blood start to flow down her face. It was surprisingly warmer than usual. The monster had struck her, hard, and she could now feel the after effects of its hit. The wound pounded with every beat of her heart.  
  
She looked up and spotted someone's window ledge. It was just out of jumping distance, but if she....yes, it could work. Just as the monster took another swing at her, she ran under the arm and jumped onto the wall. At the height of her jump, she kicked off the wall and took advantage of the extra 6 or so inches. She grabbed the window ledge with all her strength and pulled herself up. From here the demon couldn't get her, she had seen it jump before, and it's jumps were nowhere near as good as it's swings.  
  
She waited for the demon to give up trying to get her, then she jumped down again and delivered a painful kick to its face. Her kick was never dealt, as a bright flash of white overtook her and everything else.  
  
  
  
Buffy woke up. But she woke up with a feeling of pride raising in her chest, despite how her face hurt and pounded like a drum. She had figured out how to beat this unknown demon, now all she needed to do was beat it in the physical world. After raising out of her bed, which took about 5 minutes (just because she almost beat her attacker didn't mean it still hurt), she limped to the bathroom and looked at her face. Obviously the attack didn't harm her physically, but it still felt black and blue. Maybe she should tell Giles about that; it might help him in finding out just what this thing was.  
  
The walk to school was, once again, uneventful. The only significant thing that happened to her was the dog that wouldn't stop barking at her. She got to school, for the first time in a long time, on time. She even had about 15 minutes before first period even started. She decided to use that time wisely and go to the library. Just like every morning.  
  
Buffy walked into the library quietly; she wanted to act like just another student in case someone actually decided to use the library. She found Giles in his office looking with a cup of tea in his hand and an old book in the other.   
  
"Find anything?" She asked upon entering the small office.  
  
"Some, but nothing really important." Giles said rather tiredly without looking up from his book. "Did you have another nightmare?"  
  
"Yeah, but this time I kicked his ass. He got a good hit on me, and it still hurts, but there's no bruise. It's kinda weird, actually."  
  
"Really? How did you beat it?" He said this as he looked up from his book, and he said it with interest.   
  
"That's the funny thing, it was like any other baddie. This guy is a fast runner, but he's not so fast at fighting. I just kept hitting, then I got onto a high place and overtook him. That's about where the dream ended."  
  
"Hmm...maybe it decided to end it once it realized it was loosing. It could be possible."  
  
"Yeah, but I want to find the real thing. I can't keep almost beating him, only to have all my efforts blown away."  
  
"That's another thing, how did you manage to hit it? I thought all you could see were its eyes"  
  
"I don't know," She said in a distant voice, obviously put off by the question. "I really didn't think about it, I just attacked. Slayer-powers, I guess. Or I guess I just went for the eyes. Anyways, I gave it a real beat-down." She exclaimed the last sentence with pride.  
  
Just then Giles got a look on his face...that of someone who's forgotten something important. "Hold on," he said in an urgent voice. He walked into the back stacks and started searching, saying the names of the books to himself. "Ahh! Here it is!" he exclaimed about a minute later. "Look here," he said as he started turning the pages rapidly, "I thought the demon sounded familiar. Here it is. Agasta, the nightmare demon. One of many, I'm sure. It says here that he inhibits the nightmares of its host and terrorizes them. He eventually drains the energy out of them until they die of exhaustion. It seems he had the unfortunate pleasure of inhibiting a Slayer. It says that he is fairly easy to beat, just kill him in your dream."  
  
"But what if decides to stop it? I mean, I can't beat him if he runs like a chicken every time I start to get the upper-hand."  
  
"Yes, well, it doesn't say that he does control the length of the dream. Maybe it was just time for you to wake up? That could be a plausible explanation."  
  
Buffy started to get up in her chair, "Thanks, Giles. I'm going to take a nap now." She said as she started to leave the library.  
  
"Yes, good luck." Giles said in a victorious tone.  
  
  
  
She couldn't sleep. She had been lying in bed for the past couple of hours, but she couldn't sleep. She was actually thinking about going back to school to visit Will and Xander, but thought better of it. Instead she watched several boring TV shows in hopes of dozing off. No such luck.   
  
Eventually she got and looked at the clock. 3:20. Good, school was out in 10 minutes. She would call Will if she couldn't get to sleep. She went back up to her room and sat down with a book. She couldn't even remember the last time she even thought about picking one up. Giles said it would be good for her, so she got one out of the library. Salems' Lot by Stephen King. She almost laughed; this guy didn't know what he was talking about. She wondered if he ever saw a vampire in his life.   
  
Eventually she felt her eyelids start to get heavy, and later still she drifted off to sleep, leaving behind the adventures of Ben Mears and his friends.   
  
  
  
She appeared in the park, disoriented at first, but she quickly got her footing. Never had a dream felt like this, this just felt to real. She couldn't see more than 12 feet in front of her, the rest of her surroundings were cloaked in darkness. She could feel Agasta looking at her (for some reason, it seemed less frightening with a name). She could hear its breath blowing in the dark night.   
  
She positioned herself into a fighter's stance. She spread her legs apart, tensed her arms in front of her, and got ready for anything that could have the unfortunate pleasure of coming her way.   
  
She heard the grass rustle behind her, and she turned around immediately. She could see the eyes coming for her. That's all she could see, nothing else. Agasta's body blended perfectly into the dark background. Except, of course, for those eyes.   
  
She felt she was going to have trouble with this fight, she had some level of lighting in the last one, but all she could see now were the demon's eyes and what was directly in front of her.   
  
She waited for it to get about 5 feet in front of her, then she started to go into a swing. She never finished it, as she felt Agasta's clawed hand come down across her face. No blood, but she could feel the hit start to welt up. Hot tears automatically came to her eyes, but she pushed them back. She was the Slayer; she could take the pain and this demon on, no problem. She almost immediately recovered from the hit, then she retreated about 10 feet.   
  
Agasta apparently didn't expect that, as he didn't come after her. She could also see his eyes open just a little bit wider. She used the extra seconds and ran back to the demon full force. Now this he really didn't expect, and he instinctively covered his upper body with his arms. She knew he would do this, and in mid-stride dove on the ground and started to slide feet first toward him. She kicked his legs out from under him and pushed herself up off the ground.   
  
Agasta landed hard, and was momentarily stunned. Buffy took advantage of this and leaped onto him. Instantly Agasta was bombarded by punched, both open and closed fist. Buffy could feel him struggling under her, but she didn't pay any attention to him. Instead she continued her assault. He was getting weaker, as his attempts to get rid of her were weakening. Taking advantage of this was probably a mistake.   
  
She slowed her attack down a bit, feeling that if Agasta was getting weak, she shouldn't waste her energy on something useless. Agasta obviously felt the attack slow, and was obviously conserving his energy, not weakening. He bucked hard, and Buffy went flying into the air and onto the ground. When she hit the ground she rolled off her shoulder and got back into a defensive position. She saw him coming for her, faster than she thought he could run, and jumped into the air. Instead of landing behind him, she grabbed where she thought the top of his head was. It worked, she was now doing a perfect handstand on Agasta's head, and he didn't like it. He started to shake and buck, but Buffy stayed on. She had training like this, so keeping her balance was no problem.   
  
She bucked her legs into the air and pushed her body forward. Agasta slammed onto his back for the second time in the fight, and he landed hard. This severely disoriented him, and Buffy again took advantage of this. This time she didn't waste time, and just went for what she suspected was the face. She started slamming her fists hard into the nightmare demon's face. She heard something crack under her fist, but she didn't let up. Agasta started to protest rather loudly under her, yet she still kept the attack coming. Well into the attack he started to shake and convulse in an effort to get Buffy off of him. She pressed on. After about 5 more hits, the shaking and movements stopped. Buffy got up, wiped the sweat off her forehead, and waited for the light.  
  
She had won.  
  
  
  
"So you just kept hitting him? That's kinda gruesome, don't you think?" An interested Willow asked Buffy in the halls between 4th and 5th period.  
  
"Yeah, but it worked, didn't it?" A refreshed looking Buffy, high school junior, replied. It had been two days since she defeated her sleeping troubles, and she felt much better after that day of sleep. "So, what are we doing tonight?"  
  
"Well, we could pick up Xander and head off to the Bronze, I hear this really good band called Baby Ate My Dingo's are playing tonight."  
  
Buffy and Willow walked down the hall, not talking about demons.  



End file.
